I Would For You
by strictlyficly
Summary: After Damon lets himself dessicate, Bonnie and Stefan are the only ones able to get through to each other.
1. Chapter 1

"You woke me up for this." Damon mutters to Caroline, frowning at the sight before him.

Hearing that Bonnie and Stefan were in a relationship was one thing but seeing it was another. While a part of him is surprised, the rest of him isn't. The martyr complex they both had was bound to bring them together eventually. Whether it was platonic or romantic. Yet that was also the one thing he counted on for them never happening anything beyond friends. Being as though they were both loyal to Elena to a fault. But they had obviously gotten past it. The only thing he was really left in the dark about is the when and how which everyone seemed to be determined to keep from him. Bonnie and Stefan would probably tell him, well once they started speaking to him again they would. Usually all it took was an apology (and a little effort when it came to Bonnie) and everyone automatically forgave him but this time was different. He assumed that he would never see Bonnie again so he never really gave that much thought into having to work for her forgiveness. As for Stefan, he expected him to forgive him without a second thought. After the whole thing with Elena he didn't think that there would ever really be anything that he wouldn't be able to look past. But he was obviously wrong.

Now here he was after what has apparently been three years, trying to fix the exact type of thing he was trying to prevent from happening. So ultimately his decision to dessicate himself had been pointless. Because now the only thing he now had going for him was everyone pretty much deciding that if he didn't care about them then they should return the favor.

"No, you were woken up so you could save your brother and best friend's lives." she says struggling to not roll her eyes "Do you seriously think I want to be standing here talking to you? I have a job and two little girls that are looking for me." shoving her phone into her pocket after sending a text to Alaric "Besides, if it were up to me I wouldn't have woken you up until Elena was sixty years old."

"It doesn't exactly look like I'm needed or wanted." he points out scowling as Stefan smiles down at Bonnie, looking away when she cups his face standing up on the tip of her toes to kiss him. Ever since he helped saved Stefan, he basically wrote him off. The only reason he was paying attention to him now was because of Bonnie.

"You left them despite them asking you not to. You climbing into that coffin, was like one big screw you to them so of course they're not going to welcome you back with open arms. I mean, you have _Alaric_ pissed at you. Did you really think Bonnie and Stefan would be excited to see you?"

"I was trying to protect them." He grits, not understanding how no one was seeing it the same way he was.

"Well it didn't work. It actually made things worse. So now here's your chance to fix it, don't screw it up."

"And you're actually okay with this?" Damon changes the subject, having grown tired of hearing how this was 'his fault' and that he shouldn't have left and blah blah blah. Rolling his eyes as those thoughts go through his mind.

Caroline frowns at his obvious attempt at deflection, but gives in wanting to get the whole situation over with. Her best friend's life had an expiration date and she was now being forced to spend time with Damon of all people. "It's not like it wasn't coming. Best friends" she motions towards Damon and herself "don't see their situations the way they did. So they have to look out for themselves. Mix that with them having crappy pasts and at some point and time slightly shitty friends, and" she motions towards Bonnie and Stefan.

"So you're okay with your ex boyfriend and best friend hooking up?" He repeats noticing her dodge at his question.

Just as Caroline is about to respond she looks up seeing Bonnie and Stefan walking up to them.

"Enzo says Rayna just gave him our first name." Bonnie says, making a point of looking at Caroline.

"So how are we doing this?" Caroline questions, hoping she doesn't have to ride with Damon.

Caroline smiles when Bonnie grins at her "You think you can manage being apart?" She teases.

"Yeah, from what I've seen you two have been pretty much fused together at the mouth." Damon smiles at Bonnie.

"Unless you'd rather ride with Damon." Bonnie ignores him.

"Point taken." Caroline nods, slipping her arm through Bonnie's leading the way to her car.

"So you and Bon Bon?" Damon asks as she walks away without as much as a glance at him.

Damon rolls his eyes when the closest thing he gets to a response from his brother is him glaring at him as he sits down in the back seat. And they have the nerve to call him childish.


	2. Chapter 2

Three days, fifty seven vampires dead and they weren't even close to being a quarter way through with killing them all. While he had been fully aware of the threat Rayna posed, he had still thought her to be a fairly tame hunter. She had managed to be in the presence of his inner circle and control herself. But then again she had apparently crossed Klaus, killed the majority of his vampire faction and gone toe to toe with the Original Hybrid a few times and had only been put down by him twice.

"We both know that this is a waste of time." Damon says as he and Stefan make their way to Enzo's cabin, as requested by the huntress "We can't do this on our own. Not without her magick." He goes on to point out when Stefan doesn't respond.

"Which isn't an option." Stefan stops him before he suggests the route as they both climb out of his brother's Camaro "Bonnie doesn't want to give The Armory the chance to find her. And neither do I."

"You respecting your girlfriend's choices always ends up with them six feet under."

"No," Stefan begins his counter "you taking the slightest bit of interest in them does."

Damon presses his lips together.

"Wherever I go, _you_ follow. Whoever I let in, _you_ always force your way inside. And I let you."

"Well technically speaking Bonnie was my friend first."

Stefan frowns, remembering that differently.

"Bonnie was never your friend." Damon starts seeing the haughty look in his brother's eyes, an amused smile playing at the younger Salvatore's lips that falls as he goes on "You wanted to get on her good side because she was Elena's best friend. You would've sacrificed her in a heartbeat if it ever came down to anyone or her. Except for the Quarterback," he gives his brother the benefit of the doubt but backtracks giving in to the urge to be petty because out of everything this was the one thing he was sure he had his brother beat on "on a good day. Bon always knew where we stood with each other. We died and became friends. If I didn't leave I'm sure you wouldn't even be a blip on her radar."

"But you did and now she hates you again so what exactly is your point?"

"That you wouldn't be able to act like this." He stresses his point, tired of the high and mighty act Stefan was constantly pulling off.

"Like what?" Stefan stares at him "Like someone that didn't abandon her when she needed them the most?"

"I almost got her killed." Damon growls, finally reaching his boiling point on how everyone seemed to forget his incident with Tyler. Or if they did speak of it, they constantly spun it around on him as if it should have never been something to focus on for too long. "She almost died trying to save me. I couldn't give her the chance to let that happen again."

"So you thought abandoning her was the better alternative? When that's the one consistent thing she has in her life? If someone she loves doesn't die they leave. You want to know why she's so upset with you? Well that's why. She thought that you were the one person that wouldn't do that considering your history with that type of thing. When you care about someone you stay. Even when they don't want you around and despite knowing that they would be better off without you or that you should just leave them alone on principle, you don't because you're you. Abby, Jeremy, Caroline and you have all left her. Caroline she understood, she has responsibilities that understandably come before her. But yours is sleeping safe and sound in a coffin and you still couldn't-"

Damon finds his hand wrapped around his brother's throat before he can finish his sentence without meaning to and releases his grip as soon as he regains control of himself. Becoming increasingly unsettled when Stefan doesn't react to his outburst. Merely stares at him until he feels his own fangs retract.

"I'm not sure if Bonnie is going to forgive you or not when this is all over but I'm not." Stefan states calmly as if Damon's attack on him never happened at all "After this I'm done. What you do or do not do makes no difference to me. As far as I'm concerned you're still in that coffin waiting for the day that your best friend is dead."

Damon opens his mouth to respond but no words come out as the indifference in his brother's eyes as he holds his unflinching gaze leaves him breathless. He wants to think that this is all talk, but the lack of emotion in his brother's voice sinks in never giving him the proper chance to attempt to convince himself that that was even a possibility. He stares at Stefan waiting for a sign that this was only an empty threat like the ones before but minutes go by and the only thing that stops their silent standoff is the sound of a car coming to a stop. His brother's eyes going to something behind him and when the indifference in Stefan's eyes practically exude warmth as a smile graces his face he doesn't need to look to know who it is. Which throws him off even more, not even in the days before he finally managed to drive a wedge between his brother and Elena had he ever seen his brother look at anyone like that.

He stays still when he sees Bonnie appear in his peripheral but is gone just as fast. Only able to view her back as she walks towards the cabin hand in hand with Stefan.

"Ask them about your birthday." A cool accented voice resounds in his ears and when he turns he sees Enzo at his side. Amusement present in his eyes, a shit eating grin breaking out on his face when Damon's eyebrows knit together.

"Rayna isn't the patient type and with all of her victims free," Enzo starts as soon as Damon opens his mouth "she needs the distraction before we give her the chance to give us the slip and put a stop to it herself."

"Why do you care?"

"Bonnie saved my life, I at least owe her the effort to do the same." He answers with a lift of his shoulders.

Damon nearly snorts knowing the vampire well enough to know that he only does things that manage to benefit himself. But before he can call him out on it he picks up a heartbeat start to race and is off towards the cabin, his old friend's motives being the last thing on his mind.

As soon as Damon passes the threshold he sees Rayna holding a wad of papers over the fire roaring in the hearth before shifting her gaze from the latest coupling of the group looking on worriedly to him.

"I want our life spans to be swapped."

"I'm sorry," Damon says, his voice light as he steps further into the room, his eyes trained on the huntress who only tilts her head at him "you're going to have to repeat that. It sounds as if you're trying to renegade on our deal but that can't possibly be what's happening right now." he pauses "Right?"

"I want Bonnie's current life to be switched with mine." she repeats slowly as if she were explaining something to a child, clearly unbothered by his attempt at intimidation "My blood is what's killing her, I can't be killed by what's mine."

"That's not what we agreed to."

"Or I let these" she tilts her head in the direction of the fireplace where she holds the names and drawings of her past victims just out of reach from the flames "go, kill everyone in this room and go handle the mess you made on my own, and her blood is on your hands."

"It's not that simple." Bonnie says, her voice calm despite the panic in her eyes.

"I've met a few Bennetts over my years. All of which made even the most impossible things happen. Emily even broke through the Shaman's protection long enough for Katherine to escape from me. But you expect me to believe that you can't switch our lifelines?"

Damon blinks at that, ready to question when this happened and why Emily didn't just let Rayna finish his ex off but before he can even open his mouth Bonnie has already glossed over it.

"I can't let them find me."

"Then store your magick somewhere until they find someone else."

"There is no one else."

Rayna stares at her for a moment "Either she really committed or you're terrible at playing dumb." she waits for a reaction from the witch that never comes, only a furrow of the girl's brows "Does the name Aya Al- Rashid mean anything to anyone?"

Stefan stands to his full height at the name, remembering his brief run in with the woman in question wondering what she had to do with any of this. As her presence seemed to only extend to the Originals in the time he spent in New Orleans. He waits for Rayna to fill him in, but his attention immediately goes to Bonnie when he feels her whole body tense, her heartbeat starting to increase.

"Bon,"

"She's not a witch." Bonnie says ignoring Stefan calling after her "She can't-"

"Nine hundred years of being a vampire, twenty three years of being a claimed Bennett before that and used that to her advantage to create a personal coven for her organization that you outright rejected when you were going through your little dark period. But you expect me to believe she can't do anything? Aya is many things but incapable is not one of them."

Rayna waits and when she only gets silent stares in return she turns to the papers in her hand "I guess you had a nice life. Aside from no magick I know you definitely enjoyed quite a few particular moments during the last three years." Her mind going back to the more private moments she accidentally got full access of.

Bonnie flushes and makes a point of avoiding Stefan's, Damon's and Enzo's stares at Rayna's remarks. Stefan for his part only looking smug at her refusal to look at him, pushing back his discomfort at Rayna's admission. Damon visibly repulsed as if he could have gone his whole life without knowing that. While Enzo only rolls his eyes, the current moment giving him unwelcomed deja vu at the reveal.

"Just give me some time to think," Bonnie requests in an attempt to shift everyone's attention elsewhere "please."

"You have until tomorrow. After that the deal is off and I'm going to handle this on my own." Rayna states dismissively, afterwards dropping the papers into the fire, citing that it was for insurance before walking over to where her jacket is lying and shrugs it over her shoulders and walking out of the door.

"So you just trust her enough to let her leave?" Damon looks at the remaining occupants of the room as if they've all lost their minds.

"People tend to be more receptive and cooperative when you don't treat them as prisoners." Stefan snarks, turning to Bonnie when she starts to slink off. Nodding his head when she turns to meet his eyes for a moment before continuing on her way.

"You get used to it." Enzo smiles when Damon turns to look at him to see if he were just as lost at the silent exchange between the two.

* * *

He finds her perched on a tree stump, legs crossed, head tilted back as a stream of smoke dissipates above her head into the night sky and lets out a heavy sigh at the sight. Remembering the first time he was greeted to this. Finding out that the witch wasn't exactly a stranger to nicotine was a surprise to say the least and it takes everything in him to not speed over to where she is and stomp it out just as he did the first time.

"I thought we left this shit back in nineteen ninety four." He says tiredly once he's sure he's in earshot.

Bonnie halts in returning the cigarette to her lips but then continues after saying,

"I guess we both lied to each other then."

"What do you want me to say?" He questions after a long stretch of silence.

"That's the thing Damon." Bonnie smiles turning to look at him for the first time since his return aside from the time she slammed the door in his face "I don't want you to say anything. Your words never match up with your actions unless it has something to do with Elena. With everyone else you just say what you think they want to hear or just enough to placate them and wait it out until it's all forgotten. And I'm over it."

Damon stares at her, each word hitting him like a slap to the face and by the time she's finished he feels as if she's plunged her hand through his chest, all the while holding his gaze, squeezing his heart until it's flat in her hand.

"Bon, I never...I never wanted-"

"The only reason I'm even dealing with you is so you can get into a good place with Stefan." she cuts him off "At least this way, you'll have your brother back."

Damon nearly scoffs at that remembering his brother's words from earlier today "Yeah, Stefan has made it very clear…" He trails off and a frown settles across his features and when he turns his gaze back to Bonnie in hopes that what he's just gathered from her words was just his ears playing tricks on him she immediately shuts that down.

"Come on Damon," Bonnie nearly sighs seeing the realization slowly settle in "we all know that this is a suicide mission. For any of this to even come close to working, it needs me and you. And I'm not a witch anymore. Which means that there's really only one other way for me to make it through this and it's not an option."

He only stares at her, trying to bring himself to deny her unvocalized accusation at his last ditch effort but with the way that she's looking at him, he's never been able to lie to her.

"And don't say that you weren't going to suggest it because I know you. But I can't do it."

"Yes you can," he says darkly "and if you want to survive then you will."

"If I turn then Elena comes back." She pauses trying to gather the courage to voice the thoughts constantly swirling in her mind. The ones that she's never been able to quiet, even throughout all that's happened over the last few years "Do you remember the plan for when my life finally ends?"

"I take the cure." He says, the words for the first time managing to leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

"You take the cure," she repeats with a nod "and you both live your happily ever after. I might be her best friend that she loves and thinks of as a sister but as history has shown she is going to choose you and her happiness over me and my own. She thinks that this is her making it up to me. Me being here while she is playing Sleeping Beauty. Like this isn't hell for me. I'm here, living while she's sleeping her life away. Missing everything that she should be here for." She stops and closes her eyes taking a deep breath forcing herself to go back to her original point.

"She chooses you over everyone. Me, Caroline, Matt, _Jeremy_ ," She stresses the hunter's name but then stops, a pained look clouding her face.

"Stefan," he says when she doesn't say his brother's name, chuckling at the fact that she couldn't even say it out loud "That's the real reason turning isn't an option. Elena comes back, human, the way he met her and you think that he'll go running back to her as soon as she snaps her fingers." Trying to drown out the voice that taunts him with the happiness of finding someone that shares his same insecurities.

"No," Bonnie shakes her head in denial "I know that he will. I'm not stupid, I haven't let the last three years erase everything that I've seen from…" She trails off trying to find a word for what he and Elena had. She comes up empty but knows that this will say it all "them." and going by the look on Damon's face she knows that it's more than enough "But that's not why turning isn't an option. I've lived the last three years of my life without my magick. I hated being a witch for so long, I didn't think I'd miss it this much. It's like there's this gaping hole inside of me. I've felt each day of those years. There's no way that I could go for lifetimes beyond what I'm naturally supposed to have like this."

"That paired with having to see him fall back into old habits whenever something happens to her and knowing me I'll be right by his side. Bending over backwards, throwing myself into all kinds of shit just so when they finally find their way back to each other I can say that I never saw it coming. I counted on his loyalty and her at least owing me this much to be my alibi for my ignorance and humiliation. I can't handle that, and I don't deserve having that happen to me again. Elena isn't Anna. There's history there and unlike Anna I'll be able to see her. I don't want to have to fight the urge to drain my best friend dry, or to squeeze her neck until she can't breathe or rip her heart out just so she could feel a fraction of what I would feel. Of what I have felt."

"Then why are you with him?"

"Why are you waiting for her?" She turns his question back on him.

"She loves me."

Bonnie nods "Yeah, but who did she have to think of when she fought compulsion? Who did he think of when he fought his? They can love other people, but it'll never be the same because they simply can't."

"But it has nothing to do with Elena?"

"When doesn't something have to do with Elena?" she mutters "The reason I'm even here is because of her. Stefan brought her back to life. Where he goes you follow. She's convinced that Katherine will get you to leave and I lose Grams trying to make that happen because I believed her. My Grandmother gets tortured because I try to save her. I lose my life bringing Jeremy back to her. I bring her back from a literal suicide mission and get yelled at because I didn't wait for you to be brought back with her. I send you back here because I know that she needs and wants you more than she does me."

Damon lets out a long breath, his head spinning at how her words nearly mirror Stefan's.

"Kai coming back and Elena being in that coffin is on me. But you couldn't go sixty years without her. But it's Elena, I get it, the last seven years have only highlighted what I've always known since we were kids. When it comes down to me or her, it'll always be her."

Damon frowns at that, not being able to stop the rage that floods him "Are you fu-"

"It doesn't matter how close we could ever be," she abruptly cuts him off "if it ever comes down between who will live and who will die you will chose her. There's a difference between choosing me to live over her permanently and choosing to have me around until I die knowing that she'll come back. You couldn't even do that. But don't worry, I won't try to stop you from crawling back into that coffin once we're done. Just take care of them for me, okay? That's all I'm asking...that's all I want from you."

* * *

She doesn't bother to not go along with the pretense of him being asleep when she crawls into bed after finishing with her shower. Only lies on her side, looking out of the window trying desperately to feel the call of the moon despite knowing the potential consequence. When his voice breaks through her concentration.

"You don't really believe any of that, do you?"

"Yes,"

There's a long pause before she gets any semblance of a response.

"I'm not Jeremy."

"I know,"

"Then…" He trails off with a frown.

"I'm not Elena."

Stefan sighs,

"I never talked about it because I never thought I would have to or come to a point where I would have to actually face it. I know that you don't have any reason to feel like this or understand it but you have to remember that I was there. The things that you did for her, the way that you feel about her. Whenever you saw them I could feel how you felt. It was like you were suffocating. Like a little piece of you was dying. I felt like I was finding out about Jeremy and Anna, and watching my Grams getting tortured combined over and over again."

"No," Stefan says, only going on when she turns to face him, seeing the lost look on Bonnie's face.

"You said that I don't have a reason to feel the way you do or understand but I do. The way that I see him staring at you is like I'm dealing with him and Elena all over again. Except I know that that is a line that you would never cross. I never thought that she would but I know that you just won't. But Damon is already there in a way that he was never for Elena. I know how much him leaving you hurt you, but he really did think he was doing us all a favor."

"Then why are you so hurt by it?"

"Because I thought that after all that we've been through and done both to and for each other that we would be better than that. To get out of the Phoenix Stone you had to do what was your personal hell. Mine was to let him go, it took me a long time to even bring myself to try. I lost count but I knew I had to in order to escape. But out here, I knew that I would never be able to do it. But he can. While I left it was to save him, but he can leave me for two people that he...albeitly genuinely cares for...but I could never do the same."

"That's not a bad thing. You shouldn't want to be able to be like him."

"I'll stop when you stop comparing yourself to Elena. I can't change the way you feel if you're still comparing us to how I was with her. I'm not the same person that I was back then, and you are not Elena Gilbert. And I don't want you to feel as if you have to measure up to her. If you feel as if that's the case, I never want to be the reason that you do."

"Can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't?"

"Yes, because I would never do that to you." He answers without the slightest bit of hesitation, holding her gaze until she finally nods seeming to believe him. Watching in silence as she moves until there's no space between them, her head going to the crook of his neck as she drapes her arm over his stomach, melting into him when he wraps his arm around her pulling her close. His hand going to her hair, absentmindedly stroking her tresses as he says,

"We're going to make it through this."

"We shouldn't make promises that we can't keep."

"I'm not."

* * *

With her eyes closed, head against the couch Rayna Cruz lets out a long frustrated breath before trying to shut out Stefan and go back to her past victims. Trying to hone onto their locations before her senses go on high alert and she immediately reaches for the stake at her side, rising to her feet only to let it drop from her grasp when she sees Damon walking towards her until he drops down to the couch. Propping his feet on the table as she goes back to her previous residence and task.

"You were ready to end your life, what changed?"

Rayna finishes two more pages before turning to look at him "If you're looking for someone to have a heart to heart with or make you feel better after them making you realize how much of a crap brother and best friend you've been you should go somewhere else."

Damon cracks a smile at that "After you spending the last three years watching my Saint of a brother I know we're not going to exactly be friends."

"Then why are you here?"

"I want to make sure we're not going to get screwed by this. We don't have the best track record with making deals with people we've tried to kill or vice versa."

"I wonder why." Rayna says sarcastically.

Damon closes his eyes "Can you just-"

"It's like I said, I just want one day to be able to enjoy living and stop counting down the days until this is all over."

"So there's no catch?"

"Only if you count that Bonnie and I will only be switching our current life spans, not our ties. She'll still be a witch. I'll still be a hunter, just be free of my curse, not my abilities. Other than both of us still being wanted by a group of psychopaths and linked to your girlfriend, there's nothing that I know of." She answers going back to focusing on the vampires roaming free across the world.

Damon nods and rises to his feet but stops when the latter of her response sinks in,

" _Both_?"

"You didn't expect me to just take your word for letting me live, did you?"

* * *

 **A/N: This has been sitting in my files for a while and going by the post date I had been reluctant of ever posting it but I got a P.M. about it the other day and surprisingly a review ( thank you for both, I truly do appreciate it ) so I decided to just go on and post it. I apologize if it did not live up to expectations but just as any other of my stories I didn't want to leave it incomplete even if there was only one person that was still interested. Thank you for reading.**


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